Zeta Plus C1 Official Photo Shoot

Photo Shoot shots for Zeta Plus C1. Due to the poor engineering (I had to cement crap), I cannot transform this Gundam. If you have any questions about what I did, colors used, etc, feel free to leave a comment. I check comments 1-3 times per week.

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 Complete

Warning: Photos not final. Quick shots!

Well, for the most part this kit is done. There are some touch ups that need to be made, a base created (I borrowed the Tallgeese base) and a pat on the back. Let's talk about this kit.

Transformable Gundams were all the rage in the 1980s. Unfortunately, they do not make good model kits. The innards and mechanisms are poorly designed, are hard to place and easy to break. This kit fought me when I wanted it to go together. I ended up having to superglue parts together, preventing the transformation into bird mode. If I want a bird mode variant, I'll go buy another one and use the same paints. I didn't have a choice.

The legs are held in by 2mm diameter pegs on the ends of two polycaps. Not the best way to support that load. Parts constantly wanted to fall off- especially the parts underneath the chest. Some parts did not want to go on period- and I left off the shoulder sleeves for that reason. The hands are stiff and it is hard to grip the laser cannon.

This Gundam is sleek. I called for aircraft steel, an emamel Model Masters makes. The color was mixed with dark gray to make it appear darker. The end result is fantastic. The inner frame was painted Ghost Gray. I also painted any white colors the same navy blue as the feet; the feet were too close to sky blue to my liking. I used Tamiya's Navy Blue to get the job done.

This Master Grade is not for beginners. With that said, let's put in something positive about the kit. The laser cannon makes the kit. It is THE most badass cannon I have ever seen on a sci-fi kit. Hands down. I love it. The colors are perfect and the detail is great. This kit looks great when complete too.

Positive: Great finish, amazing weapons
Negative: Hard to assemble, fights the builder, parts fall off with a sneeze
Recommendation: No. Skip this kit if you can. If you like the subject matter, Zeta Gundam, this kit, and can put up with the subpar engineering, try your hand with it. I'm glad it's over, and happy with the results.

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 Painted

Zeta has been painted. Every part that I know of (that I am using) that is not a deep inner connector has been painted. HOWEVER...

Despite the loads of progress with paint, there have been a few construction problems. To put this clearly: this kit has some bad engineering. The legs are supported by two small pegs at the end of a polycap roughly 2mm in diameter. The chest likes to fall off and not connect; and the backpack unit likes to fall off. These are all rectifiable with cement, but for those who build snap together only- they may have been crap out of luck. Now I know why a few have said "I don't like building the transformable guys".

The aircraft steel looks awesome by the way.

 

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 Inner Frame painted

Zeta's inner frame has been painted. Tomorrow is the big job: Outside armor. I used the outside armor's color for the primer on the interior frame... but I like that color on the interior frame, and it seems too dark for the armor. I either need to find a lighter gray, OR try that enamel steel color... aircraft steel sleek. It will definitely be a unique paint job.

 

My airbrush did gunk up a little bit- at times it would not spray out paint, and sometimes it would spurt. I always tried the spurts on newspaper so that it did not spit onto my model. This is indicative of a dirty airbrush. I thinned my paint a little more and it helped- but the paint was still building up. Cleaned the airbrush and had little problems after that. 

 

Paints used were Tamiya Acrylics and Model Master (Testors) Acrylics. I like the testors acrylics better- however the tamiya deep blue looks excellent. Applies very nice, like their enamel counterparts. I choose tamiya for off or weird colors that are not "earthy".Acrylics are also nice because cleanup is easy- dilute with water. Warning: this may not get the needle clean.

Again, I'll say this for the record. I will never paint without an airbrush again. The results blow me away.

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 Officially in Paint

ZETA IS OFFICIALLY IN PAINT. All of the dark blue has been painted on. I am almost exclusively switching to acrylic paints because it is ridiculously easy to clean them out of an airbrush: no thinner. Crap stinks to HIGH HELL. Also: wear a respirator mask regardless. See video section.

Acrylic paints are water based paints that are popular with model builders. They offer good results with easy cleanup: I spray water through my airbrush to get the paint out. It's simple: Acrylics always dilute with water. You cannot use water as a thinner for enamel paints. Enamel paints contain oil, and if mixed, the oil will float to the top. Enamel paints contain some amount of thinner, and dilute with thinner.

1/100 Zeta Plus C1: FINALLY Some Update Pictures!

Work and games have hampered my progress on Zeta. Fear not: after tomorrow's shift we will get this model into paint! All of the parts (except for the hands) are ready to go into paint. I will assemble the hands and begin painting everything over the next one to two days.

The cat (Kelly, nickname "Puddy") has been a constant companion, always wondering what I am up to.

Squadron putty is the king of filling seams. Plastruct cement worked well, but I wanted a good, final result.

"Helping Hands" is another obscure tool that not too many people have around. It is awesome; and also helps with soldering electronics.

Bad. Ass.

Art that will be going up in my room. I got it at 50%-60% off :)

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 Fine Sanding Part II

Hobzob is down, so I will post here and copy/paste to there later. All inner frame and blue pieces have been fine sanded and passed inspection for paint. The external armor, wings, and any gray armor pieces still need to be inspected and finely sanded. Two items: the head, and the beam cannon (screw calling it a rifle, its a CANNON) will need exclusive work for seam removal. Once those items are finished, and the armor has passed inspection, it is off to paint. At the latest, I would like the zeta done by mid next week.

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 Fine Sanding

At this time, the majority of parts for the ZPC1 are filed down. Fine sanding is now required to restore some contours and remove file scratches. As much as I would like to get some stuff into paint, I am moving slowly here to ensure a good job. The majority of frame parts have been removed and assembled or filed. All gray armor parts have been removed and filed. Work will need to be done to the following areas (extensively)

-laser cannon barrel
-head seam
-rear stabilizer seam
-external fuel tank seams

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1

For up to the minute updates on the Zeta plus C1, follow this link at HobZob. It has a blogging feature I will use to help sort clutter on this blog, and condense information about the project until I am ready to post about it on here.

Zeta plus C1 updates

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1 (Part II)

Working on the Zeta C1. There are a lot of trees- about 16 in total. Part I of the assembly process requires assembling parts of general monocolor, then working and sanding them and additional parts. After I have taken them as far as they can go, they will go into paint.

parts sitting around.

place where I build my gundams.

Box to the Tamiya Yamato I built a while ago. I kept the box because of the amazing box art.

running out of room to display boxes! Will have to resort to the wall soon.

1/100 [MG] Zeta plus C1

Zeta Gundam is a series I have not watched. As a model builder and gundam fan though- who needs to watch every series in order to appreciate a badass looking Gundam? Zeta C1, to my understanding is a mass production copy of the Zeta Gundam plus a big laser cannon. The kit is mostly mono-color, so it will be an easy paint and build. I never finish things that easily though; some washing will be necessary to break up the monotony of the paint job. At this point, I don't know whether to go with acrylics or enamels. This kit needs paint that I don't have- an opportunity to switch back to acrylics and give Tamiya a try.